ESSENCE BWIH Honors Lashana Lynch, Melina Matsoukas, Niecy Nash & POSE

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Lashana Lynch also devoted much of her speech to her mother and her mother’s sacrifice – her grace was truly something to behold.

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Niecy Nash was wonderfully transparent, talking about how a wardrobe malfunction had threatened to derail her day, then going on to reveal how she was raised to believe a woman was nothing without a man, but that coming into her own had convinced her otherwise. She addressed some of her words to her daughters in the audience.

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Janet Mock and the cast of POSE were also honored.

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Billy Porter presented their award.

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Angelica Ross had already captured our hearts in the role of Candy but we spoke with her briefly at the event and she was so humble and sweet that we’ll treasure the interaction forever. We can’t wait to see what she’ll do next now that her time on “POSE” has come to a close.

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MJ Rodriguez and Hailie Sahar were also on hand to accept the honor.

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Just a beautiful event where Black women had the opportunity to say we see each other, we love each other and it was truly amazing.